It has been well known that unclean practices in facilities of food and health providers can cause the spread of diseases such as viral and bacterial infections. Restaurants, hospitals, food processing facilities and daycare centers are examples of facilities that are particularly vulnerable. Namely, bacterial and other microbial organisms can be easily transmitted from one infected individual to another individual. In fact, an individual can acquire or transmit the organisms through handling of an item, e.g., acquiring salmonella bacteria on one's hand through handling of raw poultry. However, the ease of transmission of these microbial organisms can be dealt with through proper sanitary practices.
More specifically, if an individual's hands have been contaminated, then it is often sufficient to remove the microbial organisms through the simple action of washing one's hand with soap. For example, an employee at a restaurant must wash his hands before leaving the restroom or a chef must wash his hands before preparing a salad after handling raw poultry. Although various governmental regulations have been enacted to address hygienic practices, compliance by employees are difficult to ascertain and to enforce.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for an apparatus and method to promote hygienic practices such as hand washing or alerting a user that he has encountered a potentially unsanitary area or item.